THE WRECKERS OF ST. AGNES. 365 



" Then the watch and ring are mine/' said the stranger. " You have 

 forfeited the wager ;" and he began to fill the bag with the coin. 



" Its a base juggle to rob me of my property/' cried Knox, whose 

 courage returned as he witnessed the unghostlike manner in which the 

 stranger fingered the money. 



" Keep to your wager, man/' cried Thomas, " we'll see you rightly 

 dealt with. He can no more do what he says, than raise the prince of 

 darkness himself." 



" Will you stand to your bargain ?" asked the stranger. 

 " I will ; and defy the devil and all his works." He took a candle 

 and a loaded pistol, and went towards the room. If ever the agony 

 of a life were condensed into the short space of a few minutes, that 

 was the time. Ruffian as he was, he was a pitiable object. Pale and 

 trembling, without making an effort to conceal his distress, he paused 

 and turned irresolute even at the threshold of the door. Shame and 

 avarice urged him on. He entered the room and closed the door. 



If I say that I looked on as a calm spectator of these proceedings, I 

 should say falsely. I began to grow nervous, and was infected with 

 the superstitious feeling which had evidently taken possession of my 

 companions. The only unconcerned person was the stranger; at least, 

 he was apparently so. He very coolly tied up the money, watch, and 

 ring, in the bag, and placed them on the table. He then took two 

 pieces of paper, and wrote some characters on both : one he handed to 

 Thomas: it was marked with the name of the gauger: the other he 

 kept himself. He advanced to the fire, which was blazing brightly, and, 

 muttering a few words, threw into it a small leaden pacquet, and retired 

 at the same moment to the end of the room. The flames had hardly 

 time to melt the thin sheet-lead, ere our ears were greeted with the most 

 terrific and appalling explosion that I have ever in my life heard, and as 

 though the elements were in unison, a deafening thunder crash shook 

 the house to its very foundation. Every man was thrown violently to 

 the ground ; the chairs and tables tumbled about, as though imbued 

 with life ; every door was burst open by the shock, and hardly a pane 

 of glass remained entire. This, with the screams of the women, and 

 the groans of the men, if any one could withstand, without actual terror 

 taking possession of his heart,, he must be a bolder man than I was. 

 For several minutes (for so it appeared to me) did we lie on the floor 

 in this state, expecting, momentarily, the house to fall over us in ruins. 

 All was, however, silent as death, except the pealing of the thunder and 

 the roaring of the storm ; so that when the sense of suffocation was 

 somewhat removed by the fresh air forcing through the open doors and 

 windows, we ventured to hail each other. 



It was some time, however, before we could get a light; and that ac- 

 complished, our first care was to look to our friend in the back parlour. 

 We found him lying on his face, quite insensible, and bleeding from a 

 wound in the head, which he must have received in falling. We 

 brought him into the large room ; and after a time, when people could 

 be brought to their senses, we procured restoratives. I never shall 

 forget the wild and ghastly look with which he first gazed around him. 

 He looked around, as though seeking some horrid object. " It's gone," 

 he cried ; " thank God ! what a horrid sight ! who saw it ?" " Saw 

 what ? who ?" asked Thomas. " Just as bloody and ghastly, as when I 

 pitched him down the shaft," cried he incoherently. 



